1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manipulator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A manipulator is used in a hospital, a nursing-care facility, a restaurant, home, etc. When an intended work is performed with a manipulator, a work subject such as chemicals, food or the like is sometimes deposited on an end effector part of the manipulator, and thus the end effector part might require cleaning, as described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-279101.
However, the manipulator described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-279101 has many movable parts and thus needs to have a structure to facilitate cleaning when highly clean work should be performed with the manipulator.
Moreover, since a work using the manipulator is impossible during the cleaning thereof, it is difficult to increase the utilization rate of the manipulator when highly clean work should be performed therewith.
Furthermore, even when highly clean work need not be performed with the manipulator, if a work subject is deposited and accumulated on a sensor used for controlling the end effector part, such as a contact sensor for detecting a contact state between the end effector and the work subject, this might affect sensitivity and errors of the sensor.